Today is the most hopeful and optimistic day of the year.
That’s great!
Whatever goals and resolutions you set for yourself, I’m excited for you.
We all strive to better ourselves, and even if things haven’t worked out the way we hoped in the past, we hope that At this time Probably not.
Musician Nick Cave describes hope as “optimism with a broken heart,” and I think that’s admirably accurate. We all strive to be different when change is so difficult.
If you’re trying to develop new training habits or change the number on the scale this year, I salute you. Setting a goal to change is highly commendable.
But to give yourself the best chance of achieving your goals, you need to combine them with some self-reflection and self-awareness.
Here are two questions to ask yourself as we begin 2025.
Question 1: What’s different this time?
I’m proud to have started again.
But what makes this attempt different?
If you do what you always do, you will get what you always get.
The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
If you choose the same goal or strategy that you have tried (and failed) in the past, the end result will be the same. It’s going to be another lost year of “Why can’t I get my act together?”
So think carefully about what will be different this time.
Don’t say things like “following XYZ diet,” “cutting out sugar forever,” or “training for a marathon,” especially if you’ve tried it before and couldn’t stick to it.
Something must be different this time:
- Make fewer changes.
- Pick one goal and focus on it.
- Choose a different workout routine.
- Choose a different diet or nutritional change.
- Choose a different time for your workout.
- Instead of doing it alone, ask a friend to join you.
- take a new desired action useful or necessary.
Prove to yourself that you learned something from your past attempts. Don’t let past failures go to waste – past failures have shown you what can go wrong for you.
Try something different next time!
Question 2: What are you afraid of?
You’re full of momentum right now and that’s great.
But three weeks from now, something is going to go wrong in your life.
What has been the trend when this has happened in the past?
we ask every time NF coaching client Before you start, ask yourself, “What are you most nervous about?”
The answer is what they perceive as a result of past attempts.
Do you get busy and decide to take a break until things calm down? wonderful! When that little voice in your head says this, you can prepare for it, make a plan to do something different, and decide not to do it. have Hearing that voice in your head.
Are you going to have a bad day one day and go completely off the rails? wonderful! I’ve found that when I have a bad day, I can forgive myself and quickly get back on track without looking back in anger or guilt.
Do you give up even though you really want to push forward? wonderful! This happens to everyone when motivation wanes after a few weeks. consider Addition of Ulysses Pact To protect one’s weaknesses or to place a bet with a friend to hold oneself accountable.
NF coach Matt Myers recently said: Mental Golf Podcast with Josh Nichols – and at the 24:30 mark of the episode, Matt points out something surprising to Josh.
“Before we started, you said to me, ‘It’s going to be hard at first, but after three weeks you’ll burn out and disappear.’
And I said, “Thank you for letting me know.” That way, I had all of these alarms and alerts ready to keep in touch around the 21st day. ”
Josh was aware of where he would fail in the future and made a plan with Coach Matt to overcome the challenges together.
They’ve been working together for two months (and will continue to do so) since then, and there’s only been one day where Josh has missed checking in, and missing a day doesn’t mean Josh’s usual ” All-or-nothing behavior never started.
It might be different this time
We all strive to change, and even if we recognize ourselves…
We often bite off more than we can chew.
Our goals and hopes often exceed the reality that we are fallible, busy, and complex human beings with unpredictable lives.
It’s okay!
If you are aware of these things and can try another method…even this Next If that attempt doesn’t work, you can remove that strategy from the list of possible successful paths and try again.
That’s what life is about anyway. Try, fail, adjust, and start again.
-Steve
P.S: If you don’t want to go on this journey alone, I’d be honored to check it out NF coaching program.
Our coaches are amazing and would love to help you achieve your goals. We’ve had a lot of sign-ups over the past few days and are really excited to be able to help so many new people.
